Angela Merkel: The EU will lose legitimacy if CO2 emissions are not reduced

Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, firmly believes that the EU should be the leaders of the fight against climate change. That's why she's asked Germany's fellow members in the EU to accomplish their Kyoto Treat figures. A different policy would cause Europeans to lose their legitimacy as eco-leaders, she said.
Merkel, who has become one of the main voices on the topic of global warming, criticised some EU countries (including Germany itself) that aren't reducing their CO2 emissions. She also said that developed countries should be an example for developing countries.

Merkel is introducing her proposals at this week's United Nations Conference about Climate Change in Bali in front of Germany's Council for Energy Conservation. Europe hasn't reduced emissions by eight percent, as agreed to in the Kyoto Treaty, but only a mere two percent.

The proposals weren't mentioned in our source news, but Merkel is expected to publish the new set of measures at the beginning of 2008, three years after the first report in 2005, which will likely affect biofuel policies and car taxing systems.